Mission in Central African Republic

The Order of Discalced Carmelites is a Catholic religious order, similar for example to the Franciscans. In addition to its spiritual activities, for many centuries now it has also devoted itself to social activity, which is a natural part of its missions. The mission which has been operating in the Central African Republic since 1971 is, like the Czech provincial delegation, part of the Ligurian province of the Order (in Italy), and is called the Mission of the Infant Jesus of Prague.

The Central African Republic is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. The indigenous name for the country is Bêafrîka, which means the Heart of Africa. The Discalced Carmelites are active here in four cities in the north-west of the country, in conditions of great poverty and almost non-existent infrastructure. Schools, hospitals, government, business, roads – all of this exists here only to a very limited degree.

Several dozen people are involved in the work of the mission – in addition to religious brothers and sisters from Italy, India, France and the Central African Republic, there are also a number of laypeople. The area in which the mission operates is about the same size as a Czech region. About 120 villages scattered around the savannah are also dependent on the mission – some of them can only be reached on foot. The region lies near the equator and the tropical climate is not very healthy. The missionaries, too, cannot avoid heath problems.

Apart from spreading the Christian faith and values and training indigenous priests, the mission helps to provide health care and education in the region and is involved in a number of projects. The missionaries have built six health centres, a leprosarium, a centre for undernourished children, a technical school, a carpentry manufacturing cooperative, 24 primary schools and 10 kindergartens, a number of wells, etc. They help the local people to improve the standard of farming and animal husbandry. In Bangui, the capital city, they are responsible for a development project based on a hundred-hectare plantation of olive palms. This project alone, whose aim is to help contribute towards financing the mission from local sources, provides work for a hundred people.